Author: Hannah Thacher

Another chapter, another division of land. This chapter begins with the Levites coming to Joshua, Eleazar, and the other leaders of Israel to ask for the land that God had instructed Moses to give them. Over the next forty-ish verses, we see all the ways the land was divided up. The final verse in this chapter leaves us with an important reminder that sums up much of the book of Joshua: “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” God had been faithful to the Israelites, just as He had promised. Despite Israel’s shortcomings along the way, God protected and provided for His people. 

It’s interesting to note that the Levites weren’t given one particular plot of land like the other tribes were. Instead, they were scattered about amongst 48 different towns (and pasture lands). The Levites were the teachers and instructors of the Law. Their role was to provide spiritual counsel to the rest of the people. Instead of the Levites going off and creating their own sect of society, removed from the rest of the world, they were dispersed all throughout the land. But why? They were needed to point people back to God. They were needed to explain what the Law meant. They were needed in society.

In the same way that the Levites were the priests who were meant to be scattered around, we too are part of a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). As followers of Jesus, it is our responsibility to point people towards Him. We, too, need to be living among the rest of the world, rubbing shoulders with people far from God, explaining the Scriptures and the gospel to people that need to hear it. Another way to put it: We are to be salt and light in the world (Matthew 5:13-16). It would have been easier for the Levites to form their own separate nation, but that’s not the role God had for them. As tempting as it may be for us as Christians to want to pull ourselves out of society and live a life only focused on ourselves, we have been given the opportunity to take the Good News to a world that needs to hear it.

In this passage, we see Joshua carrying out God’s plan that He gave to Moses in Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19 when God instructed Moses to establish “six cities of refuge for my people.” Quite a bit is written in the Old Testament about these cities of refuge, which seems a bit strange. Why such an elaborate plan just for the unlikely event that one person accidentally kills another person?

Because, thankfully, God plans ahead. And in His plans, He wants us to recognize and understand His character. With these cities of refuge, God established a protocol that provided safety for His people in a time of danger. As one author puts it, these cities were a place for those who were guilty of hand, but not of heart. Can you imagine how those people felt as they ran for safety? Surely they were panicked, literally running for their lives and thinking, “If I can just make it to the place of refuge, I am saved.” They were thankful beyond measure for a plan that would protect them from death and for the opportunity to return home and rest in full freedom after the death of the high priest.

Sound familiar? As soon as Adam and Eve took that forbidden bite, God needed a plan to save us from the danger of eternity without Him. And this plan weaves its way through the Old Testament while consistently pointing us to the one ultimate place of refuge: Jesus Christ. Hebrews 6:18 tells us that while our sins might differ from those seeking the city of Kedesh, we can run to Jesus, our High Priest, for refuge. Belief in His death and resurrection will fill us with the strength and encouragement we need to hold fast to the hope set before us: eternity with Him.

In the book of Psalms alone, God is described as our “refuge” in times of trouble more than 15 times. So whatever it is today that is weighing you down—guilt, anxiety, despair, stress, worry, finances, shame—run to Him just like those running to Kedesh. He has planned ahead, knowing exactly what danger it is that you are trying to escape. Take hope and find rest and safety in knowing that no matter what you are fleeing, God is your refuge and strength, an ever-present help in any kind of trouble. He has planned ahead and is waiting to take you in.

In Joshua 19 we see the division and allotment of land for six of the tribes of Israel. It’s hard to imagine what it must have felt like to finally get their land. After years of wandering in the wilderness, God’s people now made their home in the Promised Land and each tribe got its portion. Home, sweet home.

Like any great leader, Joshua went last. In contrast to so many leaders we see around us, whether at work or in politics, Joshua chose to make sure everyone else had their land before he got his own. After finishing the hard work of dividing the land, we see the Israelites give Joshua an inheritance among them. In Chapter 13 we saw that Joshua was now “very old” and now this great leader has been given his own allotment. Amidst a lot of seemingly insignificant details, we see the leader of God’s people finish well and receive a reward for his labor. He doesn’t say his farewell to the people until Joshua 23, but he has run the race and finished the course set before him.

None of us know the number of days before us but we, like Joshua, have an opportunity to finish strong. We get to put the needs of others before our own and serve others as Christ served us (see Philippians 2:3-4, Mark 10:44-45). As always, the Lord proved faithful to fulfill His promises to both Caleb and Joshua. In Numbers 14:30, God told Joshua and Caleb they would enter the Promised Land. In Joshua 14 and 19 we see these two men receive the land and inheritance promised to them. 

Be encouraged today by the faithfulness of the Lord to do as He has promised He would do. And take note of the leadership of one of the greatest leaders we read about in the Bible. 

In this chapter, Joshua organized the Israelites and sent them out to survey the land in which they would now live. While it seems like an odd task, Joshua wanted the people of God to have a firm grasp on this new land. This wasn’t just busywork–they needed to be clear about who lived where, so each tribe could take ownership of their own land. Later in the chapter Joshua assigns each tribe a portion of land with a detailed description of it. 

This entire section of Scripture feels like a living out of what God commanded Adam in Genesis 1. As soon as Adam was formed, God told him to “fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Adam was to feel the responsibility of understanding and taking care of the earth. Here, we see Joshua doing just that. He is putting the Israelites in a place so they might fill the earth and subdue it.    

Sometimes Christians can be accused of having an “evacuation” mindset. People often think all Christians want to do is go to heaven because faith in Jesus simply serves as a “get out of hell free card.” However, our trust in Jesus does far more for us than that. Our faith also raises the importance of our life here. Scripture makes it clear that God has placed us in a specific place at a specific time for a purpose. If we live our days only hoping to evacuate to heaven, we’ve missed out our purposes and God’s plans for our lives. Rather, we need to have a clear lay of the land we occupy. We should know what areas of our city need tending to because we pay attention to it! While we live in the land, God has a purpose for us. We are to be rooted where we’ve been planted and allow the Holy Spirit to use us to change those around us.

In the last few verses of this chapter, Joshua is hearing the complaints of the children of Joseph about the lack of land given to their people. The tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim were large tribes and were occupying land where Canaanites still lived. As we read yesterday, God had promised this land to them, but instead of driving out the Canaanites as God commanded, they allowed them to stay and were satisfied to put them to forced labor instead. So when they bring their complaints to Joshua, he replies by telling them to do the hard work and take their land as God had asked and equipped them to do. 

Putting ourselves in the shoes of Manasseh and Ephraim, we can see they believe that God is keeping something from them, but in reality He had already given it to them, and was simply asking them to go and get it. They wanted a shortcut. God was asking for faithfulness. How often are we prone to look for shortcuts in our lives and miss out on the opportunities to be faithful? As believers we are not guaranteed the easy way out or a passive guarantee of blessings. We are called instead to follow the example of Jesus who was obedient to the point of death on a cross. 

God will ask us to do the hard thing. God will ask us to be faithful and obedient. And in the midst of it all, God will be right there with us. The beauty of our God is that He will place a high call on your life and then be alongside you the whole time to help you accomplish it. Manasseh and Ephraim felt they had an impossible task in front of them, but the mere fact that God commanded them to take this land means that He would be with them and that it was not only possible, but already finished.

This chapter, like the two before it, seems like yet another description of how land was to be divided up. It is that, but it’s also so much more. A key point we can learn from in this chapter is in the final sentence: “They did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim but are required to do forced labor.” Ephraim’s descendents didn’t force out the Canaanites that were living in Gezer even though that was the expectation that God laid out for them. They compromised and let them live among them in exchange for manual labor. They settled.

This same mistake happened with some of the other tribes as well. But why? There are two likely reasons that they decided to not do as God commanded. First, it was the easier route. It’s easier to make a compromise than it is to force people out of the land. It’s easier to not start a battle. It’s easier to just turn a blind eye. But that wasn’t what God had instructed them to do. They took the easy way out. 

The other likely reason is that it gave them more money. The Israelites got greedy. They could have paid their fellow Israelites to work for them, or they could force the Canaanites to do that same work in exchange for letting them stay in the land. Think about all the shortcuts we take that could all be traced back to the root cause of greed. Sometimes we think we are being financially savvy, but we are actually just lovers of money.

On the surface, allowing the Canaanites to stay in Gezer does not seem like that big of a deal. But it’s these small concessions here and there that led Israel into complete chaos in the book of Judges. Idolatry and immorality became rampant and led to a complete disregard of God’s instructions. This serves as a helpful reminder to us that diligence in obeying God leads to life, but small compromises here and there will ultimately lead to death. Today, let’s be vigilant about the areas of our lives where we feel tempted to compromise.

At first glance, this chapter looks like a daunting one. Another list of names you most likely will butcher and cities that have very little geographical significance for you as you read this passage on your couch (or wherever you are). On the contrary, there is so much for us to glean from this text.

This chapter deals with the actual division of the land of Canaan. Judah, as we have seen, was first by right of Jacob’s blessing. Here we have an outline of the borders of Judah’s territory, an account of Caleb’s occupation of Hebron and Debir, and an exhaustive list of the cities awarded to Judah. It’s also important to recall what happened just before this reading. Caleb (85 years young) continued to press forward and charge the mountain of his enemies (Joshua 14:6-12). Neither Joshua nor Caleb sat back and relaxed. No, these men traded retirement for restructuring. May we strive to have this tenacity as well! Caleb is a man worth emulating, from chasing out giants (v. 14) to giving blessings and streams amidst the desert (v. 19).

However, not all of the people shared this tenacity. According to the author, the Jebusites “could not” be driven out of the land of Jerusalem. This begs the questions, “Why were they unable to drive out the Jebusites? Did not God say the land was theirs and that He would be with them?” It would seem that it was not so much a could not scenario but a would not. It would take the people of God many, many years to conquer Jerusalem. Not until 2 Samuel 5 when King David comes to power!

So, after reading Joshua 15, we have a decision to make: We can choose to retire or restructure our culture. We can sit back and be could not people or have the heart of Caleb with a can do spirit. We can look at the opportunities all around us and push back darkness for the sake of the Kingdom. May we be a people who charge mountains and chase giants according to the will of God!

Faithful obedience. That is the character trait that Caleb is remembered for. We learn a little about Caleb’s background in this passage. He was one of the 12 men chosen by Moses to scout out the land of Canaan. Of the 12 that were sent out, 10 returned telling Moses not to enter the land because they were fearful of the inhabitants and didn’t think it was safe. But Caleb and Joshua returned, and despite seeing the obstacles, were confident that the Lord would give them victory over the Canaanites (Numbers 13:30).

As a result of his faithful obedience, Caleb is repeatedly referred to as one who wholeheartedly followed the Lord. In verse 8, Caleb describes himself in this way when he pleads “but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.” We learn that Moses referred to him in this way in verse 9 when he said “The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.” And if we look back to when his story started, we see that in Numbers 14:24, the Lord Himself said about Caleb “But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

Caleb wasn’t influenced by the murmurings and fears of those around him. He didn’t let the obstacles he saw before him deter him from believing in what God could provide. From all accounts in Scripture, we know that Caleb wholeheartedly devoted his life to trusting in God and believing His promises. Not only was Caleb steadfast, but he was also patient. At this point it has been about 45 years since this land was promised to Caleb, but we can be encouraged by the fact that God rewarded Caleb for both his patience and his faithfulness. May we be like Caleb, faithful to God even when the circumstances seem insurmountable and patient to wait on the Lord’s timing.

Joshua 13:1 says, “When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.”” The Lord was kind enough to remind Joshua he wasn’t just old, but “very old.” In his younger years, he and Caleb were spies (as described in Numbers 13), he served as Moses’ right hand man, and he led God’s people into the Promised Land. He had quite the resume and was probably near the age of “retirement.” Joshua earned the right to kick back and celebrate a life of faithfulness. He had lived the American Israelite Dream.

Many of us desire to live out the American Dream: be successful in your work, make a lot of money, retire early, and then collect seashells on your many vacations around the world. It sounds very appealing and for many is the end result of decades of hard work. But in Joshua 13, the Lord reminds Joshua there’s still work to be done. Even after a lifelong legacy of faithful work in leading God’s people, Joshua can’t just prop his feet up outside his tent. God has more work for Joshua to do in leading His people and finishing his assignment of splitting up the land among the 12 tribes of Israel (see Numbers 34-35).

What would it look like for you to have a mentality like Joshua’s? What do you think the Lord would have you do to finish well? For many of us that may be 50-60 years down the road. For others, it’s right around the corner. Regardless, what if we finished strong like the Lord called Joshua to finish? In 2 Timothy 4:7, Paul writes, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Whether you have 1 or 100 years left, let’s finish the race strong and remember the Lord has work for us to do.